memeorandum: The Clinton Playbook — When George W. Bush takes the podium … (Jay Carney/Swampland)

1:15 PM ET, January 23, 2007

Top Items:

Headmaster Disputes Claim That Obama Attended Islamic School — Fresh doubt was cast yesterday on a magazine's allegation that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) attended a madrassah, or religious school that teaches a fundamentalist version of Islam. — Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster …

Discussion: QandO, Riehl World View, The Corner, Booman Tribune, The Moderate Voice, It Shines For All and Think Progress

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Death Knell May Be Near for Public Election Funds — The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate initiative hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died over the weekend.

Discussion: Washington Post, Captain's Quarters, Outside The Beltway, Matthew Yglesias, PoliBlog (TM), Ezra Klein, Media Blog, Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, Hillary Clinton … and DownWithTyranny!

Ed Morrissey / Examiner: Richardson could be '08's most dangerous candidate

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
Clinton Dives in Media Waters

Discussion: Althouse and The Liberty Papers

Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
As Kerry ponders, Democrats crowd in

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, The Caucus, Liberal Values and CNN Political Ticker

New York Times:

Bush, at Low Point in Polls, Will Push Domestic Agenda — Carrying some of the worst public approval ratings of any president in a generation, President Bush is heading into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night seeking to revitalize his domestic agenda but facing stiff resistance …

Discussion: Washington Post, Captain's Quarters, PoliBlog (TM), Ezra Klein and Oliver Willis

Jay Carney / Swampland:

The Clinton Playbook — When George W. Bush takes the podium in the House tonight, he will peer into an audience of scowling, hostile faces. He will see lawmakers made bitter by the failure of his Iraq gambit, and by his call to risk compounding that failure by adding more U.S. troops to the lethal sectarian stew in Baghdad.

Discussion: The Caucus

Atrios / Eschaton:
Swampland — In this edition, Jay Carney demonstrates …

Discussion: Morning Call, Swampland and Daily Kos

Los Angeles Times:

Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link — U.S. warnings of advanced weaponry crossing the border are overstated, critics say. — BAQUBAH, IRAQ — If there is anywhere Iran could easily stir up trouble in Iraq, it would be in Diyala, a rugged province along the border between the two nations.

Discussion: Think Progress, TAPPED, State of the Day and The American Street

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

Investigating, rather than reciting, Bush claims re: Iran — (updated below) — Something odd occurred this week: Fox News — spewing filth churned out by the lowest depths of right-wing innuendo swamps — was "reporting" the two-pronged falsehood that Barak Obama attended a "madrassa" …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, rubber hose, Gideon Rachman and NO QUARTER

Roger Si / politico.com:

McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy — With his presidential hopes tied to an administration whose Iraq policy he supports but cannot control, John McCain for the first time blamed Vice President Cheney for what McCain calls the "witch's brew" of a "terribly mishandled" war in which U.S. forces are on the verge of defeat.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, DownWithTyranny!, The Heretik, Reason Magazine, Kiko's House and Andrew Sullivan

PittsburghLIVE.com: Sen. McCain running for president in 2008

Josephine Hearn / politico.com:

Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed — Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome. — "I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Cohen …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Redstate and Hot Air

Liz Cheney / Washington Post:

Retreat Isn't an Option — Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war.

Discussion: Democrats.com, The American Street, Matthew Yglesias, Political Animal, Blue Crab Boulevard and Armchair Generalist

Fox News:

WEB SITE KICKS SAND IN FACES OF GIS IN IRAQ ASKING FOR MATS TO EASE HARDSHIP OF SLEEPING ON GROUND — An American GI assigned to one of the harshest posts in Iraq had a simple request last week for a Wisconsin mattress company: send some floor mats to help ease the hardship of sleeping on the cold, bug-infested ground.

Discussion: Andrew Olmsted dot com, NewsBusters.org, The Strata-Sphere, digg and Atlas Shrugs

Annysa Johnson / JSOnline:
E-mail to soldier spurs outrage

Discussion: BLACKFIVE, Hot Air and On Deadline

PJM / Pajamas Media:

The State of the Union is a Disaster: — The Speech George Bush Should Make Tuesday Night — Don't bother standing up or clapping, any of you. I already know who won the election, and I know how you feel. — I come before you tonight not to make amends, not to make it good, curry any favor or find any middle ground.

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Dr. Sanity, Daily Pundit, Blinq and Centerfield

Michael van der Galien / The Moderate Voice:

Guest Voice: Governor Schwarzenegger's Office on Health Care — Shortly after I published a post on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan, I received an e-mail from his office. After e-mailing back and forth, the office of Governor Schwarzenegger agreed to write an op-ed …

Kevin Freking / Associated Press:
Bush Insurance Plan Gets Cold Reception

Discussion: TAPPED and The Mahablog

Michael J. Totten:

Hezbollah Riots in Lebanon — While I was in Lebanon gathering the material I've been publishing, Hezbollah kept threatening to strangle the country by seizing major roads, including the one that leads to the airport. I was worried I might get stuck there, but I didn't.

Discussion: BBC, From Beirut to the Beltway, snapped shot, Pajamas Media and Blue Crab Boulevard

Haaretz:
1 dead, 10 hurt as opposition moves to topple Lebanon gov't

Discussion: Blogs of War and Jules Crittenden

Washington Post:

Abortion Foes to Renew Efforts — Activists Rally on Mall, Vow to Keep Pressure on Congress — Tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched through melting snow on the Mall yesterday and vowed to work harder — since Democrats have taken control of the Capitol — to overturn …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, NewsBusters.org and ABCNEWS

John Solo / Washington Post:

Casino Executive Contributes $1 Million to Gingrich Group — Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and a possible presidential contender, jump-started his new political group with a check for $1 million from a source many in his conservative base would shun — the gambling industry.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Amanda / Think Progress:

CNN's Glenn Beck Calls Anti-Gay Slur Simply A 'Naughty Name' — Yesterday on CNN Headline News, host Glenn Beck addressed the controversy raised after Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington called his castmate T.R. Knight a "faggot." — Beck called the New York Times's refusal to print the anti-gay slur …

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Associated Press, My Two Sense and Shakespeare's Sister

Marc Santora / New York Times:

In the Vortex of Baghdad, Staying Put This Time — Two blocks from the new American outpost in Ghazaliya, one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods, a fight was raging. Shiites were battling Sunnis, the latest skirmish in a sectarian war that has left this area a wasteland.

Discussion: Daily Kos and The News Blog